PLUM TV No Longer Available In The Hamptons

Plum TV has gone off the air. Viewers noticed an “important customer update” alert on their TV screens on May 6. “As of May 6, Plum TV has ceased operations and is no longer available,” it said.

It was not clear whether this was the case with Plum’s East End broadcast only, or whether it applied to the lifestyle network’s local programming in all other high-end resort areas. The Aspen Daily News reported on May 13 that the network, which aired its high-life programming on Channel 16 in Aspen, Colorado, was showing a still image

around the clock of wine being poured into a fancy glass.

Plum TV’s two phone numbers in Manhattan seemed to be out of commission, connecting to a busy signal when called more than 20 times over a period of several days. Emails to the contacts at www.plumtv.com were not returned.

There is no listing for Plum in Los Angeles, although it was expected to open an office there when two former MTV executives took over the company in 2012 after it was sold by auction through U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The new owners, Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet, were said in a press release at that time to have extensive experience in nontraditional media like iPhone apps and video games. Interviewed then in New York, Mr. Hertzan told The East Hampton Press he was excited to be able to take his love for the “history, the beauty, the food” of eastern Long Island and “beam it to people all over the world.”

This week, Mr. Hertzan did not return calls seeking comment.

Among other places, Plum could be seen on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, in Aspen and Miami Beach, as well as more recently, in Los Angeles, Boston and Philadelphia.

Mr. Hertzan and Mr. Varet were the cofounders of LXTV. A February interview with Mr. Hertzan in Business Insider focused on “the importance of multi-platform content for a focused, upper-middle-class audience,” and Mr. Hertzan spoke in that context about the need to get content out on cable, despite its challenges, as well as in venues like YouTube and Hulu.

He recently joined ABC News, which credited him in a press release on April 1 with “significantly expanding [Plum TV’s] distribution across digital and television platforms.” The release said Mr. Hertzan will develop non-fiction content in cable, broadcast and digital media.

Tom Scott, who founded Nantucket Nectars, launched the Plum TV network in 2004.